Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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B06039
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A sermon preached at Great Yarmouth, June 6th. By R.S., M.A. and rector of [illegible] in the county of Norfolk.
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Scamler, Robert, b. 1653 or 4.
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1677
(1677)
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Wing S807B; ESTC R183256
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44,829
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80
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Mankind and people in the World Thus St. Mathew useth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wo unto the World because of Offences Mat. 18.7 Yes thus our Saviour himself interpreted it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the World cannot hate you but me it hateth where is meant the People or Inhabitants of the world After the same manner Satan is frequently stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Prince of the World because he rules and governs in the affections of men and enthrones himself in their hearts But indeed Expositors are various in their constructions thereof some translate it Sic Deus hominem dilexit God so loved the little World Man some hominem ad imaginem Dei factum Man made after the Image and Similitude of God others hominem lapsum et mundanum fall'n and worldly-minded-man all which Translations contribute to extoll and magnifie the wonderful Love of God For is it not worthy our admiration to see light and darkness enter a League To see the torrid and frigid Zone unite and embrace each other To see JEHOVAH and the Gods of EKRON the Ark and Dagon reconciled to see the God Israel and Baal meet together and the Prophets of the Lord and Sons of Belial kiss each other Yet all these was fall'n man compared to him who is nothing but purity it self yet still how does he court this depraved and sinful creature to a reconciliation Shall we not envy his honour and admire his love who will lay down his life for the sake of a righteous man shall we not then be rapt with wonder when we consider the Immensity of the Divine Love to laps'd man to see the eternal Son of the Most High God descend into the lower parts of the earth and in a manner embrace a Dunghil nay beyond that to expose and submit himself to the cruel stroke of the most ignominious death that he might snatch sinful man from a lamentable downfal and mount him from a miserable earth to the Regions of Immortality and Bliss Herein is love John 4.10 not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be a Propitiation for our sins O thou great and All-seeing eye of Heaven what moved thee to glance so favourable a countenance on us miserable sinners what moved thee to send so kind an Embassage of peace to us vile worms to us who were unworthy thy compassion though never so earnestly implor'd to us who had deserved thy wrath more than thy smiles thy Thunder and Lightning thy indignation and anger but not the least drop of thy mercy How comes it to pass thou inexhaustible Fountain of Love thou showr'st down thy goodness upon us in so plentiful a measure 't was thy mercy O God Oh! praised be that mercy which saved us from destruction 't was thy pity and compassion not our tenderness to thy Laws which sheltred us from thy fury 't was thy love and goodness alone Oh! for ever magnified be that love which induced thee to be so bountiful unto us with all thankfulness and reverence O God we desire to join with those Sons of Glory and bright Morning Stars in singing according to our abilitie and power Glory be to God on High for his unspeakable love in giving his only begotten Son that whosoever do believe on him should not perish but have eternal life for thou sent not thy Son into the World to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness and declare the Wonders which he doth for the Children of Men. Which is no more then Justice and our bounden duty to perform for if we consult what we are by nature what shall we conclude our selves but Children of wrath the finful Offpring of disobedient Adam made obnoxious to the worst of deaths before we were entituled to life by sinning against God without whose Reconciliation we cannot but perish For though it is true Man at his first creeping into the World was placed in the Regions of felicity and favoured as one of the Darlings of God yet was he not as quickly disobedient to the commands of his Creator how justly therefore was his Crown forfeited and he deprived of all that happiness God had conferred on him when he was banished Paradise and in the sweat of his brows to earn his bread And if he fell so did we by being in his Lovns for since the advantages of that blessing God promised him if obedient had respect to his Posterity then certainly the curse which was the consequence of his disobedience did not relate to his particular interest alone but was of universal influence and he propagated infection to the last and utmost of his Posterity From our First Parents therefore we derive a curse whose Legacy bequeathed us was sin and damnation and all Man-kind were Joynt-heirs of the same Inheritance the wrath of an incensed God Thus holy David confesseth it Ps 51.5 in sin did my Mother conceive me and in iniquity she brought me forth Now what had been the wages of this sin but eternal death what had been the fruit which they plucked from the Forbidden Tree in the disguise of an Apple but everlasting ruine had not the wonderful mercy of God found out an expedient to salve his Justice and save us For had he not dealt thus graciously with his Creatures what could we have in reason expected but to have been swept away in the Deluge of Divine indignation that he should have dipt his Arrow in the Poyson of that Serpent which gull'd and mocked us and exhaust were it possible his whole Magazine of Thunderbolts that he should have girded his Sword upon his Thigh and take Vengeance upon us making us to suck the Lees and dreggs of that intollerable potion reserved for the Sons of Perdition This was the fruit flourishing on the Tree of Knowledge this was that miserable plight and woful condition into which we had brought our selves we had deserved the worst of Gods fury by breaking our bands and Covenant with him Stand still therefore all ye that forget God and admire his goodness and tell me if there be any God like unto our God or any Father like unto our heavenly Father who forbore to enter into the Armory of his wrath or to affright us with the furrows of a contracted brow for notwithstanding we were born Heirs Apparent to calamity without end yet loe he sent his only begotten Son to cut off the entail We have sinned O Lord and dealt wickedly but this Lamb of thine what hath he done that he should be thus battered and bruised wounded and bloudy to save us from the Stripes we had justly deserved how great was thy love to us to send him who was in Heaven with thee to us on earth in the likeness of sinful flesh Oh! what charming love was this how pretious are the thoughts of it to us Grant then O
appeared unto him under a Cloud of troubles He changed his note for having received a fall out of his Chariot and his Insolency curbed by an immediate blow from Heaven He could say Justum est hominem mortalem subditum esse Deo It is meet and requisite for Mortal Men to be Subject to the Immortal God So likewise Nâ—buchadnezzar in his carier of impiety defied the Lord of Hosts and proudly vaunted himself against the Almighty until he enter'd into the Armory of his wrath and Metamorphosed this proud King into a base beast and then he could confess the Lord was able to abase all them that walk in pride Dan. 4. last v. For when God perceives a constant course of his kindness cannot wean us from our sins he then applyes the Ministers of his Fury the storms and tempests of afflictions to ruffle us out of them 'T is true great prosperities do not easily corrupt the souls which have taken a good temper in the fear of God nevertheless they wound and in some sort change them A little Bee sometimes playeth so long upon her hony that by much walking there she entangleth her wings So a Soul yea one of those most eminent for devotion and piety being continually soothed with a long sequel of the good successes of the affairs of the World taketh some small flight out of it self seeking recreation in a smiling and delicate air which affords nothing but objects of pleasure and delight But so soon as adversity hath given her blow it reentreth into it self it foldeth it self within it self it fasteth it self it knoweth it self it findeth God in the bottom of her heart afflicted and perplext with the revolutions of the World she raises and darts her self above the ways of the Moon and Tracks of the Sun to that goodly Temple of Eternity where Spirits dwell disrobed of these garments of flesh and bones which we dragg along with us in this mortal life This is that High-Rode the devout soul journeys in so soon as she is alienated from the Court of prosperity and disentangled from the affairs of the World She then enters into a sweet retirement and looks on the embroideries of nature in the Mountains and Vallies Forrests and Rivers as a Theater declaring the glory of God and shewing his Handy-work She relisheth this retreat from the World as Manna from Heaven and tasts the deep silence of sorrow with incredible delight Oh! how will she be delighted How will she be ravished when she shall reflect on the marvelous kindness of God towards her that he should chasten her here least she should be chastised for ever that she should be afflicted with sorrows in this life to free her from eternal gnashings of teeth that he should deprive her of the gilded nothings of this World that she may enjoy an everlasting and supream good That he should make her unfortunate here least she should be eternally unhappy amidst the tortures of Brimstone and Fire hereafter In a word How happy will she be when she shall consider how God hath made her smart under the light afflictions of an adverse fortune on earth to adopt her for an eternal and exceeding weight of glory in Heaven Her adversity will make her imagine as if she were discoursing with God face to face This gall will make her open her eyes and see that it is the hand of God which presseth her fore and the consideration that it is the Lord will make her to say cheerfully with old Eli 1 Sam. 3.18 Let him do what seemeth him good But indeed until we be thus varnish'd and brightned till we be refined by this fire of affliction until we have whitened our souls by the tears of sorrow our affections will espouse the quarrel of the World and wholly declare in favour of it God therefore to curb us that we may not stray beyond our limits keeps us in a vale of tears often leading us through an Aceldema a field of bloud and persecution that with Jacob we may long for our Fathers house not saying with St. Peter it is good for us to be here but rather with St. Paul I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ For if like the Moon in the Eclypse we fail not to appear dark on that side which looketh towards earth we shall most assuredly appear radiant and bright on that which tends towards Heaven for it is to withdraw our affections from of the World that Great are the troubles of the Righteous A Second Reason why God visits us with afflictions may be to draw us to amendment of life Thus the Royal Prophet Before I was troubled I went wrong but now have I known thy Law As the eyes of Tobit were opened by the gall of the Fish so the judgments of Heaven inflicted on us make us to reflect on the past actions of our life that we may correct and reform all the errataes and misdemeanors thereof For as the Rod of Moses stricken on the Stony Rock caused whole Buckets of water to issue out thence in like manner the Rod of afflictions smiting on our flinty and obdurate hearts forceth whole Rivers of tears to flow from our eyes for our sins committed For what is more natural to every one when he is in distress than to call to remembrance those sins which he concludes the occasion thereof When Heaven is pouring forth its vials of wrath and vengeance upon us can we act so insensibly as well as irrationally as not to commune with our hearts and ask our souls what have we done How have I deserved this what notorious crime have I committed that I have made my God who delighteth not in the misery of his people so highly displeased with me as to afflict my body with this disease and that distemper Is it not for the Plague of the heart that I am now tormented with the Plague in my Body was not I afflicted with this tumour because I was so affected with the tympany of pride How come I dismembred in my Limbs but because I did not set the broken bones of my soul together Had I been afflicted with Strangury or Stone had I dissolved the Stone in my heart by the tears of a really godly sorrow I had never been oppressed with this Calenture had not that more fatal one of anger needed a cure was not this Feaver this Sickness or that Disease prescribed by God as medicinal for this or that Sin And when he hath ransacked his soul to the botom and found out the troubler of Israel the Fonah who raiseth these Storms and Tempests the Rebel who disquiets him in his peace what can be the issue of it but that he bring him forth and stone him to death I mean that he should be perfectly sorry for his sin and make an absolute reformation least if he return to his wickedness a worse thing fall unto him We must imagine him only the shape of a man who